Category Archives: Undergraduate

Courses for All IMA Students

Journalism and Society: Leaks and Whistleblowers (MCC-UE 9111)

In 2010, WikiLeaks, in a partnership with some of the most important news publications, began releasing thousands of classified diplomatic cables sent between the U.S. State Department and consulates and embassies around the world. Three years later, Edward Snowden leaked top secret information about surveillance activities by the NSA. More recently, the Panama Papers became the biggest data leak in the history of journalism. These events signal the beginning of the big leak era, which this course will focus on. We will analyze the role of media concentration and technological innovation as twin driving forces in the inception of this big leak era over recent years. We will study the consequences of these changes at three different levels: (i) the legal consequences for whistleblowers; (ii) the resulting birth of global networks and partnerships that expose technical, cultural and economic limitations in the traditional media; and (iii) the geopolitical implications, as a breach in one government ́s security apparatus is a victory for that government ́s opponents. Finally, we will confront one larger question: whether the big leak era means that transparency will (could?) replace fairness as journalism ́s main paradigm. .

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


MCC-UE 9111-000 (10745)08/28/2025 – 12/03/2025 Tue,Thu2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at NYU Buenos Aires (Global)Instructed by ODonnell, Santiago

Tango and Mass Culture (MCC-UE 9121)

This course explores Tango as an aesthetic, social and cultural formation that is articulated in interesting and complex ways with the traditions of culture and politics in Argentina and Latin America more generally. During the rapid modernization of the 1920s and 1930s, Tango (like Brazilian Samba), which had been seen as a primitive and exotic dance, began to emerge as a kind of modern Field available for additional information in footer primitive art form that quickly came to occupy a central space in nationalist discourse. The course explores the way that perceptions of a primitive and a modern converge in this unique and exciting art. In addition, the course will consider tango as a global metaphor with deeply embedded connections to urban poverty, social marginalization, and masculine authority. .

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


MCC-UE 9121-000 (10756)08/28/2025 – 12/03/2025 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at NYU Buenos Aires (Global)Instructed by Dieleke, Edgardo

Media Events and Spectacles (MCC-UE 1065)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course examines the role played by media events & spectacle in the shaping of belief, attitudes, & actions, with particular attention paid to the concept of the masses & its changed meaning over time. The course examines concepts of mass culture, the decentralization of cultural forms, & the rise of convergence culture. It explores the history of the media event & the theories that have shaped it, & the role of spectacle in society from the Renaissance to modern society to the age of digital media.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Consumption, Culture and Identity (MCC-UE 1409)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course offers students the opportunity to engage with theories of communication & culture through the context of consumption & contemporary consumer society. Our focus will be on the role of commodities & consumer practices in everyday life & in culture at large. We will give particular attention to consumption’s role in the construction of social & cultural identities. Students will consider critical responses to consumer culture, including the resistance & refusal of consumption as well as the attempted mobilization of consumption toward social change.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Health Media and Communication (MCC-UE 1040)

The meanings of health & disease are shaped not only by scientific & Medical discourses, but by media, communication, & the cultures of health. This course examines the impact of media & health cultures on what counts as normal & pathological, how medical environments are understood & experienced, popular tactics for communicating & contesting biomedical information, public understandings of biotechnology, & how media representation & popular culture help to shape understandings of disease & health. readings, films (& other sources) will be drawn from a variety of genres, including epidemiology, public health, anthropology, history, communication studies, & medical memoir.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2020)


MCC-UE 1040-000 (14114)09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Mon,Wed9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Media and Culture of Money (MCC-UE 1404)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

Departing from the premise that money and finance are not simply a system but also a culture, this class considers how money, finance, and economics are shaped in part through media representations. We examine historical ways of thinking about money, the centrality of financial markets in 20th-21st century globalization, and the examination of financial systems in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown. Students explore the role of money media in shaping attitudes toward consumerism, financial decisions, and finance systems.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Global Media Seminar: Latin America (MCC-UE 9455)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

The course acquaints students with Latin American theories, practices, and representations of the media. Departing from a critical approach to Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, the course traces the arc of the media in Latin America from independence to the post-neoliberal era and the so-called “Media Wars.” Students engage in current incendiary debates about the role of the media, the new media law, and the complex relationship between the media, politics and the state.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Media and the Environment (MCC-UE 1027)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

The course investigates dominant critical perspectives within the field of Environmental Communication, the premise of which is that the way we communicate powerfully impacts our perceptions of the “natural” world, and that these perceptions shape the way we define our relationships to nature. We access various conceptual frameworks for addressing questions of environment, culture, and communication. Students explore topics such as nature/wildlife tourism, consumerism, representations of the environment in popular culture, and environmental activism.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media and Music (MCC-UE 1037)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed

This course investigates the mediation of music & music-like sounds in both private & public life. Commercial venues, from restaurants to rest rooms, pipe Muzakl into its spaces; radios broadcast more music than any other content today; soundtracks imprint the texture of signifying associations for television shows & films; we carry personal playlists on mobile music players; & musical media & technological, ideological & metaphysical dimension; as well as the relation of music to mass media (radio, television, the internet) & the film and music industries.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Global Media Seminar: Media Activism and Democracy (MCC-UE 9452)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue

The course on “Media, Activism & Democracy” aims at, first, introducing students to the complex and fascinating topic of civil society activism; second, at illustrating them the linkages between activism and media; third, at showing them the impact of civil society’s advocacy on contemporary political systems. In a nutshell, the course aims at providing students with a closer understanding of the civil society activism-media-politics conundrums at the national and global levels.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Global Media Seminar: East-Central Europe (MCC-UE 9453)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Mon

The course addresses issues and perspectives in global communication, a rapidly evolving field. Students critically assess shifts in national, regional, and international media patterns of production, distribution, and consumption over time, and critically analyze the tumultuous contemporary global communication environment. Topics include national and global media consolidation, cultural implications of globalization, international broadcasting, information flows, law and regulation, and emerging technologies. The focus of the course is international.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Global Media Seminar: Media & Cultural Globalization in France (MCC-UE 9454)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Mon

The course introduces students to the basic structures and practices of media in Europe and their relationship to everyday social life. Specific case studies highlight current trends in the production, distribution, consumption, and regulation of media. Topics include: national and regional idioms in a range of media genres, from entertainment to advertising and publicity, to news and information; legal norms regarding content and freedom of expression; pirate and independent media; and innovations and emerging practices in digital media.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Architecture as Media: (MCC-UE 1030)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This class reads architecture and the built environment through the lenses of media, communication, and culture, departing from the proposition that spaces communicate meaningfully and are in conversation with the social. From Gothic cathedrals to suburban shopping malls to homes, factories, skyscrapers and digital cities, students acquire a vocabulary for relating representations and practices, symbols and structures, and for identifying the ideological and aesthetic positions that produce settings for everyday life.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media and Cultural Analysis (MCC-UE 9014)

This course provides an overview of critical thinking on contemporary media production, media outcomes and media systems. Introduce theoretical approaches and practice used to analyze the content, structure, and context of media in society. We will explore factors shaping media texts, including: politics, economics, technology, and cultural traditions. The dominant critical perspectives that contribute to our understanding of media will be read, discussed, and employed. The course has three broad objectives: 1. Develop a critical awareness of media environments, 2. develop a familiarity with concepts, themes and theoretical approaches of media criticism, and the terms associated with these approaches and 3. develop an ability to adopt and adapt these frameworks in your own analyses of mediated communication.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)


MCC-UE 9014-000 (22886)01/25/2022 – 05/09/2022 Mon9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at NYU Prague (Global)Instructed by Trampota, Tomas

Culture, Media and Globalization (MCC-UE 9400)

A veritable buzzword globalization refers to several newly emerged trends. To name the three most visible ones these are the economy, culture and politics. Media do not only describe and interpret globalization but also are its important part. A study of globalization is inherently diverse and eclectic. So is this course. Students will read, watch, analyze and discuss. In class discussions and writings they are expected to engage questions connected to globalization, culture and the media. Through a series of lectures and discussions the course explores how the process of globalization transforms the media and examines the impact of new technologies on global communications. Emphasizing the transnational context of media and culture the course approaches global media and cultural production from a wide range of theoretical frameworks relevant to contemporary condition.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2019)


MCC-UE 9400-000 (12588)02/04/2019 – 05/16/2019 Mon,Wed2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at NYU London (Global)Instructed by


MCC-UE 9400-000 (25657)02/04/2019 – 05/16/2019 Mon,Wed1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at NYU London (Global)Instructed by

Rise of Internet Media (MCC-UE 1571)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon

This course examines the emergence of the Internet as a commercial business. It pays particular attention to the various business models and practices employed in media-related enterprises, tracing their development from the late 1990s to the most recent strategies and trends. Case studies include the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), portals, search engines, early game platforms, the Internet presence of traditional media organizations, and social network platforms.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

History of Media & Comm (MCC-UE 3)

This course introduces students to key concepts in history of media and communication, and to the stakes of historical inquiry. Rather than tracing a necessarily selective historical arc from alphabet to Internet or from cave painting to coding, the course is organized around an exploration of case studies in context.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


MCC-UE 3-000 (10672)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon,Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ali, Isra


MCC-UE 3-000 (11292)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Sinett, Arel


MCC-UE 3-000 (11293)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Sinett, Arel


MCC-UE 3-000 (11294)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ozkiral, Alijan


MCC-UE 3-000 (11295)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ozkiral, Alijan


MCC-UE 3-000 (11296)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Chenery, Ashley


MCC-UE 3-000 (11376)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Chenery, Ashley


MCC-UE 3-000 (11377)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue,Thu2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Fotsch, Paul

Advertising & Marketing (MCC-UE 1775)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

An introduction to the professions of marketing, promotion, and advertising, with an emphasis on industry structure, branding, integrated marketing communication, effective techniques, and changing communication strategies.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media Activism & Social Movements (MCC-UE 1826)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This interactive, discussion-oriented course addresses the politics and tactics underlying five broad categories of media activism: media interventions at the levels of representation, labor relations, policy, strategic communication, and “alternative” media making. The course surveys the existing scholarship on media activism, and undertakes close analyses of actual activist practices within both old and new media. We examine a wide-range of digital media as well as local, national, and global media activist institutions.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Privacy and Media (MCC-UE 1303)

Few values have been as unalterably disturbed as privacy by developments in new media and other information technologies. This course presents an inquiry into the impact of information and digital communications technologies upon privacy and its meanings. In order to examine at a deep level technology’s place in society and the complex ways that technology and privacy each shape the other in interactive cycles of cause and effect. Philosophical analysis is balanced with significant contributions by legal scholars, computer scientists, social scientists, and popular social critics.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks